Paddling Diaries, #3: Dead River, Lake Griffin State Park.

I was actually reluctant to post this as a Paddling Diaries entry, because it was a rather short one and I didn't get many photos. But oh well, it was an excursion so I guess it counts. :)

The plan was to go to PEAR (Palatlakaha Environmental and Agricultural Reserve) Park near Leesburg--it looked like a neat place to check out, and it has a canoe/kayak launch for the Palatlakaha River, a section of which runs through the park. So I loaded up the kayak and off we went. We played on the playground first, then ate the lunch we'd brought, and then thought we'd take a little hike. So we did that, which was quite nice--we walked for maybe a half hour and still only checked out a portion of the park, the place is big!

After the hike, Heather took the younger girls back to the playground while Hermione and I went to get the kayak and take a paddle. So I got the kayak down and onto its cart, and hauled it down the path to the boat launch.. only to find that the ramp's gate was closed and locked, and the river itself was choked with weeds and would be a nightmare to paddle anyway. Lesson learned: always check the launch and water before unloading the kayak!

So much for Plan A, then, and I had no Plan B. But we'd taken the kayak that far, I wanted to use the damn thing! We realized we were only about 10 miles from Lake Griffin State Park, which we'd first visited a month or two back and really liked because of the huge live oak tree that lives there. So we headed over there, got a new state parks annual pass, and hit the water. I took Hermione and Amy out and back for a little bit first, and then dropped them off and took Hallie for a short ride. Like I said, it was pretty short, maybe 45 minutes total on the water, but it was a gorgeous day to be outside so it was a good day anyhow. After I got the kayak back on the van, we headed out to visit the Mammoth Oak (where the girls had a ball again), and then headed home.

So have a few pictures! ( Clicky )

Oh, as a sidenote, when we purchased the new state parks pass, the guy made it valid through February 2017! I don't think he meant to do that--when he first said 2017 I figured he'd just misspoken so I didn't correct him, and then when he proceeded to write 2017 as the expiration date and punch 2017 on the pass card itself, I thought it too late to correct him! So I guess we'll see if someone at another park questions and/or corrects it, but 3 years for the price of one sounds pretty good to me!